Chris Hewett

This is where you will find all of The Rugby Paper’s Chris Hewett news, views, opinion and other content.

Rooster swoop is ruffling feathers

9 April 2023 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT RELATIONS between the two rugby codes in faraway Australia are never especially cordial, so the decision of the new Wallaby coach – Eddie […]

It’s time to get back to shifting the piano

2 April 2023 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT Not long after helping the All Blacks to victory over the Lions in 1993, the formidable wing John Kirwan found himself on the […]

Good, but Hogg not quite top of the list

2 April 2023 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT WHAT are we to make of the Strange Case of Stuart Hogg? The scorer of more international tries than anyone in the annals […]

Georgians to be left out in the cold again

26 March 2023 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT You have to hand it to our lords and masters at World Rugby, the non-governing governing body: they never miss an opportunity to […]

Unfair on Steward – and on ref Peyper

26 March 2023 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT The trouble with the refereeing profession? Ninety-eight per cent of its members give the rest a bad name. Okay, okay: it’s an old […]

Forgotten men who deserve a mention

19 March 2023 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST The story goes like this: Richard Hill, the best England player no one ever talked about and significantly more influential than […]

I’d love to see South Seas take on Lions

19 March 2023 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT MAYBE, just maybe, there is life in the old Lion yet, thanks to the Australians. Which must be quite high on the list […]

We need to see the big guns on parade

12 March 2023 2 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST There have been bigger crowds on the summit ridge of Mount Everest than we usually see at Sale, even on an […]

Giving a cap for so little action is an insult

12 March 2023 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT Warren Gatland was an All Black hooker plenty of times over, but he never won a Test cap because Sean Fitzpatrick, his great […]

So, tell me, who is the dopiest one of all?

5 March 2023 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST It is a fact well known to all of us: try as we might, we can’t fix stupid. Which brings us […]

Seeing the appeal in land of the rising sums

5 March 2023 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT It seems there are two ways of ending up in Japan unexpectedly. The first involves taking a flight from Manchester to Sydney, missing […]

Sale’s human bowling ball is a very lucky man

26 February 2023 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Act in haste, repent at leisure. We’ve all heard the line a thousand times, but you can’t get enough of a […]

Songs that are out of tune with the modern world

26 February 2023 1 comment

Missing it yet? You must be: the anti-woke warriors tell us you are, so no further proof is required. When it comes to match day […]

Time to change rules about the driving maul

19 February 2023 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST As a rule of thumb, rugby folk do not pick an intellectual fight with the great New Zealand coach Wayne Smith […]

King of the team sports? Not from where I’m sitting

19 February 2023 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT Later this year, when the French go tete-a-tete with the All Blacks in the opening fixture of the glitziest and most cacophonous World […]

Parisse, a tower of strength at No.8

12 February 2023 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST It stank to high heaven at the time, as sins against sporting justice always do, and the odour lingers in the […]

Why Coles deserves place at top table

12 February 2023 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT ON the subject of retirements, the All Blacks hooker Dane Coles says he will call it quits after this autumn’s gathering in France, […]

About time to turn the pointless clock back

5 February 2023 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Rising high: Saints win lineout ball against Leicester PICTURES: Getty Images Stop the clock, now and for always, amen. We’re talking […]

And the award for starting too early goes to…

5 February 2023 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT Four rounds of knockout rugby and 109 days early, there it was: the longlist for the European Professional Club Rugby player of the […]

Pride and prejudice central to Eddie’s tale

29 January 2023 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST JANE Austen lived in Bath, amid the same Georgian splendour as a certain Bruce Craig, albeit not at the same time. […]

Why Joe deserves a decent break

29 January 2023 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all.” These words, or something like them, have been sung by […]

15 sparklers shining out of a tough year for rugby

31 December 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT Bernard Laporte, Wasps and Worcester, the online victimisation of Wayne Barnes, the financial trials of the English Premiership, the impoverishment of the European […]

Billy’s the kid when it comes to resistance

23 December 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMN Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings,” says the doctor to his patient, “but you have only four minutes to […]

Au revoir! French not captivated by Europe

18 December 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST ENGLAND’S elite clubs barely saw the French for dust in the early years of the European Challenge Cup. The first four […]

Cowards who hide on the internet

18 December 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT It would be inaccurate to say that the Pau coach Sebastien Piqueronies’ manhandling of the Scottish referee Sam Grove-White last weekend was miles […]

All set for another round of Warrenball

11 December 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST SHOULD the Twickenham top brass ever try to recruit a head coach from the local job centre – please don’t laugh: […]

Yet again, France show us the way

11 December 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT WORCESTER have now accepted the inevitable: they must start next season in the second tier of English rugby after failing in their bid […]

England heading for hit and hope land

4 December 2022 5 comments

CHRIS HEWETT Form is temporary, class is permanent”. Who says? Not Mike Tindall. The World Cup-winning centre’s form may have been a rock-solid fixed point […]

Priceless! Doddie was worth every penny

4 December 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT Reflecting on the rugby life and times of dear Doddie Weir in last week’s paper, Brendan Gallagher made reference to his arrival at […]

Why the South Seas need to feel the love

20 November 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST When Western Samoa surprised Wales by beating them in Cardiff during the pool stage of the 1991 World Cup – correction: […]

It’s time to look at the line-out drive

20 November 2022 0 comments

It was interesting to hear Graham Henry, the venerable New Zealand coach who ended almost a quarter of a century of silver-ferned hurt by guiding […]

One-sided games do no favours for anyone

13 November 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST DEVOTEES of the union game have spent decades laughing at the idea of the “other code” staging a World Cup. Their […]

Failing to select a kicker is a major sin

13 November 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT BACK in the day, rugby had its own version of the Seven Deadly Sins: biting, gouging, bag-snatching, head-stamping, shaving on match day, running […]

Class act! Beware the ‘fame first’ approach

6 November 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST PICTURE the scene: we are in the final week of the 1997 Lions tour and the world champion Springboks have already […]

It’s time for Eagles to prove their worth

6 November 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT ANYONE puzzled by a strange squeaking sound drifting in on a soft breeze from Dubai should know the following: the US Eagles are […]

What was that again? Big Dave has trouble with his articulation

30 October 2022 2 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST It is a well-known fact in literary circles that TS Eliot’s great poem The Waste Land, first published a century ago, […]

Don’t lose rugby in some tiny corner of cyberspace

30 October 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT Jeff Bezos is some piece of work. One of a tiny handful of people who can legitimately argue that the sky is not […]

Why Ford mustn’t be forgotten by England

23 October 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST The art of forgetting is as fundamental to rugby as the immeasurably finer art of goal-kicking in the teeth of a […]

Which side will you back in this inquisition?

23 October 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT The two organisations at the heart of what is left of the professional club structure in England – the Rugby Football Union and Premiership […]

How one coach cut through the silence

16 October 2022 0 comments

Saracens coach Joe Shaw back in his playing days at Newcastle in 2003 CHRIS HEWETT English club rugby at the top end is unusual in […]

Why it’s time to prioritise the players

16 October 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT SO what does Jack Willis do now? And what control can Eddie Jones, the England coach, and his employers at Twickenham exert over […]

One-sided victories no good for anyone

9 October 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST THE basic mix of marketing ingredients for sporting World Cups is one part exaggeration to three parts hyperbole – afact widely […]

Sorry, Rob, but rugby can’t afford higher cap

9 October 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT It’s not easy to argue with a man like Rob Baxter, the honest-to-goodness, soil-under-the-fingernails West Countryman whose work with Exeter across a wide […]

Cole shows us how to survive life at the front

2 October 2022 2 comments

CHRIS HEWETT Welcome to the age of the anti-scrum. We wait whole half-hours for a set-piece only to find none coming along at once, and […]

Increasing salary cap a risk not worth taking

25 September 2022 2 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Where’s daddy gone?” asks the six-yearold boy. “To a Premier Rugby board meeting,” his mother replies. “What’s that?” “It’s a place […]

One old competition which has had its day

18 September 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Younger readers may be surprised to learn that back in the days when dinosaurs were roaming the corridors of Twickenham – […]

Vakatawa highlights a serious problem

18 September 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT The desperate news surrounding Virimi Vakatawa – a proper centre on his day and plenty good enough for most opposition even when he […]

Chaos theory can lead us to the high ground

11 September 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT They were all present for the Premiership launch at Twickenham, but they were not all correct. In a tell-tale photograph, the young Worcester captain […]